Gypsum
by PyroYoshi
Summary: A 27 year old woman named Lisa finds herself tangled in the horrors of Silent Hill for a reason she doesn't know. She doesn't carry guilt or sin on her shoulders. Is she simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, or is there a suppressed part of herself that she does not yet realize? M for a reason, read to find out.
1. Ch1 the fog world

Author's note: This story is completely original. There are some nods to the games, but all the characters and locations are original, as is the plot. There will not be any of that overused amnesia or "I killed someone and forgot" trope.

* * *

Her cold hazel eyes narrowing, Lisa's patience with the woman in front of her was wearing paper thin. When coming to a fast food restaurant, one is supposed to know, or at least have an idea of what they want before they come inside.

And yet, this bleached blonde behemoth in front of her remained indecisive, changing her mind every fraction of a second. "I want a number seven, grilled...actually, no. Scratch that. I want a number five, but instead of regular pickles, can I get the special groovy ones? And can you like, caramelize the onions? Oh, and make it super sized!"

Lisa frowned at her misfortune. She was hungry, and she had a long drive ahead of her. She stopped at the Silent Hill Happy Burger joint because she wanted food immediately, not because she wanted to wait aeons for a burger and fries. She was just about to tell the woman to hurry it up when she finally said, "I'll eat it here," and paid for her food.

Finally, Lisa thought to herself, placing her order in a span of about four seconds. She got her usual: a quarter pounder burger with a side of seasoned curly fries and a large Coke. It wasn't standard run of the mill fast food, either. It was actually good, and that's why she liked it. McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell and all the other franchises couldn't even begin to compare.

Already munching on the fries, Lisa scanned the place for a free table. The place was packed, no thanks to the large group of children present. Evidentially one of them had chosen to have their birthday party here, as there were unopened presents on the tables, and some poor bastard in a Mayor M. Moo outfit was singing to the birthday kid.

"Oh man, that is simply humiliating," Lisa mused to herself and made her way to the store's second dining floor.

The second floor wasn't as chaotic as the first, but there were still plenty of people up here, mostly adults. Lisa guessed that they wanted to seek refuge from all the noisy children downstairs. She sat down in an empty booth and began to demolish her food.

After eating, she decided to simply lounge around for a bit, as she was a little tired and had plenty of time to kill. She was going to visit her parents, who lived about fifty miles past Silent Hill.

She rummaged about in her purse, withdrawing a compact mirror. A complete lipgloss fiend, Lisa reapplied a fresh layer for some additional shine. She adjusted her pink Playgirl hat, tied her brunette hair into a ponytail, and leaned back in the booth, thinking about the best course of action to take.  
She had three hours before she had to be at her parent's doorstep, and since it would only take an hour to get there, that left her with two to use at her leisure. She could shop, but since Silent Hill was a tourist town, she'd probably find nothing but tourist shops selling, "I vacationed in Silent Hill!" T shirts. Cruising for guys was also out, as she had a bad feeling that a majority of the locals were either overtly religious, a 2/10 on the sexy meter, or both. Option number three was to take a nap right there at the table. Choosing the third choice, Lisa pushed her tray to the side, laid her head on the table and shut her eyes. She was tired anyway, so she wasn't all that surprised when she found herself drifting off into a light sleep within ten minutes.

* * *

Sometime later, Lisa was jolted awake by a sharp pain in her neck. Fearing that she had slept for hours, she hastily sat up and checked her phone. She was ultimately relieved to discover she had only been asleep for twenty minutes.

"Okay, it's only one thirty. No need to panic." she said to herself and stood up.

It was only then that she noticed how quiet it was. There were no screaming children, no chattering adults, no bustling of trays, no beeping of deep fryers, nothing.

"Eh? Did they close? What the hell, did they not realize I was still up here?" she fumed.

Purposely knocking her tray to the floor, she looked around in confusion. She was the only person up here, and the lobby seemed dirtier than it had an hour ago. All the garbage containers were overflowing, there were cups and wrappers laying in miscellaneous locations, and various types of soda and sauce had been spilled, hardened, and plastered to the floor.

"Wow. Somebody desperately needs to be fired." Lisa commented on the mess before her attention was drawn to the nearest window.

Putting both her hands on the glass, she peered out the window and observed the sudden change in the weather. When she had arrived in Silent Hill, it was sunny, without a single cloud in the sky. Now, that sunny sky had been devoured by a mass of dark grey. Thick white fog had rolled in, and it was opaque enough that she had a difficult time reading the signs on the buildings across the street.

Lisa's confusion escalated. "Okay...this is really weird..." she mumbled and gathered her things.

She paused at the top of the staircase, peering down. Nothing but silence and a strangely ominous feeling greeted her. Descending the stairs, she took in her surroundings, only to see that the first floor was deserted as well.

"Screw this, I'm leaving."

She turned to leave, but her anger and annoyance quickly returned when she tugged on the door only to find it locked.

"Locked?! This is bullshit!" she exploded, storming in front of the registers. "Hey! Is anybody back there? The door is locked and I can't get out!" she shouted. No answer. "Hello? Is there ANYBODY here?" she called, exasperated. "I take that as a no," she said upon receiving only deafening silence as an answer.

Taking matters into her own hands, she strode behind the counter. She had worked in fast food before, and she knew that all stores had a master key that would unlock the doors. All she had to do was find it.

For a brief moment, she considered trying to cram herself through the tiny drive through window, but she knew she'd never fit. Her butt would surely get stuck. Abandoning that plan and extending her middle finger to a nearby camera, she walked further into the store, pausing to examine things.

There was an order for a number two value basket on the drive thru monitor, but there was nobody in sight. Furthermore, the drive thru timer was currently at 100,000 seconds and counting. That was definitely out of the ordinary, as those types of timers usually stop at 999 seconds. There was no food made, as the holding cabinets were all off and seemed to have a sticky residue on them.

Lisa scanned the office, but there was nothing of immediate interest to her. She searched through all the drawers for a key to the door, but found nothing except papers, files, and office supplies. A quick scan of the break room proved to be fruitless, and the side door in the dry stock area was locked tight.

Feeling exasperated, Lisa sighed. Was she walled in?

She pulled out her iphone, trying to think of what to tell her parents regarding her predicament. "Hi, mom, sorry I'm going to be late. I've been locked inside a Happy Burger joint, which is completely vacant in the middle of the day for some reason." Yeah right. Who would believe that? Her parents sure as hell wouldn't. Lisa normally got on quite well with her parents, but if they heard that absurd story they'd just accuse her of avoiding them.

Preparing for the ensuing speech, she dialed their home number. The dial tone sounded twice, then abruptly went dead.

"Huh? No bars?" Lisa questioned. Sure enough, she had no reception. "You have GOT to be kidding me! This is 2014, I could go to the poorest nation in Africa and get reception! What is going on here?!" She was about to toss her phone away in frustration, but thought better of it.

"Okay Lisa, think." she told herself, trying to get a grip on these past events.

This whole thing struck her as strange and off kilter, that's for sure. For one, why would this restaurant close in the middle of the day, especially with how busy it had been a mere hour ago? That made absolutely zero sense. As far as she knew, there wasn't any holiday or celebration going on that would require businesses to close early. And how on earth could she not get a signal? In this day and age, most of the world had cellphone coverage, and Silent Hill wasn't some off the map hick town that was 50 years behind in the technology department. No, it was about as normal as a decent sized town could get. She had even driven past an Apple store on her way to Happy Burger, so the fact that she couldn't get cell phone service was baffling. Still, there had to be a perfectly logical explanation for all of this.

Lisa slipped her phone back into her purse and was about to continue her search when she noticed that the cooler door had a key in the lock. Taking her chance, she turned the key, which was covered in some sort of sticky clear fluid that was oozing out of the keyhole. The door stuck at first, but with a second tug she wrenched it open and was bombarded with a putrid stench.

"Agh!" she physically recoiled in disgust. All the product had spoiled, gone rotten and grown a copious amount of mold. The air was thick and fetid, with probably hundreds of flies buzzing about. Trying to swat the nasty things away from her, Lisa covered her nose and opened the door to the freezer.

The air in the freezer was even more foul, she could barely breathe. She didn't dare open her mouth in danger of swallowing a dozen flies. All the boxes of meat were damp and dripping rancid juice, which was pooling on the floor in some places. She didn't truly freak until she noticed all the maggots swarming the repugnant product. There had to be thousands of them, squirming around on the boxes and boring tunnels in the rotten meat. Releasing a high girly scream, she bolted towards the door on the other side of the room, turned the handle and stumbled outside. Feeling utterly filthy, she immediately frisked herself to make sure she hadn't made contact with a single maggot. Those putrid creatures revolted her to no end. She didn't have any problem with blood, be it her own or someone else's, but with the exception of snakes, she was terrified of anything without legs. Maggots, leeches, slugs and the like all reduced her from an intimidating twenty seven year old woman to a squealing school girl in a micro second.

Relieved to be maggot free, Lisa sighed and looked around. Her attention was drawn to a stationary car in front of the drive thru order box. Slowly approaching it, she gazed inside. The car was empty, the exterior rusted in some areas, and upon closer inspection, she realized that all four tires were completely flat. This vehicle had been sitting there for a very long time.

"Okay..this is impossible." Lisa said matter of factly. "An hour and a half ago, this place was busy. There is no way this car has been sitting here for years. No way. There is simply no way." she reassured herself.

As much as she told herself that there had to be a reason for this, she was beginning to doubt herself as she saw other long idle rusting vehicles in the parking lot. Perhaps this was all a dream, and she was still fast asleep in the booth at Happy Burger.

"Yeah, that could be it. Maybe I'm having one of those really vivid self aware, interactive dreams."  
Lisa put that theory to the test by slapping herself across the face. The stinging pain was very real, so this must be real as well.

Deciding to go searching for answers, Lisa walked down the street, her uneasiness rapidly growing. Where was everybody? All the stores were dark and desolate, there were no cars on the road, and nobody walking on the street. She couldn't even hear any birds. It was almost as if the entire town was devoid of life, like every single resident had gotten up and left at the same time.

She walked until her path became obstructed, and she was agape when she saw why. The road itself simply ended, the edge broken. Her confusion skyrocketed when she saw that not only did the road abruptly end and drop off into an abyss, the buildings near it had an entire side ripped off. Cautiously hovering near the edge, Lisa got down on her hands and knees and peered into the chasm, feeling a bit of vertigo as she did so.

She was having a hard time believing it, but she was staring into what appeared to be an endless white void. A bottomless pit, something which defied every scientific law in existence.

There was a pile of old bricks nearby, so she picked one up and dropped it into the pit, waiting to hear it smash onto the bottom. No such sounds greeted her. Fearing that it really was a bottomless pit, she backed up and rose to her feet.  
Nervously pacing back and forth and biting her nails, Lisa tried to wrap her head around this predicament. She was in a seemingly deserted town, and the road just ended. Not only that, but it apparently dropped off into a bottomless pit, something thought to be fictional. That was definitely enough to freak her out, and leaving immediately was her best bet. She would walk back to her car, leave and never look back, as long as the other roads were intact.

As she walked back to the Happy Burger, her foot connected with a small container. Bending over to snag it, she picked up the canister. It seemed to be a beverage of some kind, as the bottle was brown and the label simply said, 'health drink'.

"Yuck. I don't think so." she said and tossed it away. She knew better than to consume some random item found on the street, especially a 'health drink', which was probably laced with drugs.

Arriving back at the parking lot, Lisa searched for her car, only to realize that it wasn't where she left it.

"This is not okay. Where is my car?" Lisa asked herself in a surprisingly calm voice.

Cars couldn't vanish into thin air. The chance that it had been stolen, though small, was possible. She had locked it up tight, and it was equipped with a car alarm, making it a tough one to steal. Not only that, but Silent Hill didn't strike her as the kind of town with a high number of expert car thieves. She was just about to silently seethe to herself when she noticed a small yellow post it note laying on the ground in the parking space where her car had been.

'I have towed your car. To reclaim it you must come pick it up at Bill &amp; Roy's car compound and pay the fee.'

Lisa face palmed. "Oh what a delight. How the hell am I going to find this place? Just walk around until I find it?" Fearing that was her only option, she made a mental note of her surroundings. If she could remember certain buildings and landmarks, she might be able to get around alright.

The road up ahead ended just as abruptly as the one behind her. The right side was completely obliterated, which forced her to turn left. She walked down an alley which ran behind several businesses. As she plodded along, she couldn't help but feel the uneasiness increasing. Something about this was wrong, yet she couldn't put her finger on it. It's not like she had never seen fog before, but here it had a very foreboding feel, like it was concealing something horrible. The complete lack of life didn't help either. It just didn't make sense. Even if this was a ghost town, surely there would be wild animals prowling around. What could have happened to them?

Lisa's thoughts were interrupted as a muffled whinnying sound drifted from up ahead. A horse? In the middle of an abandoned town? The sound met Lisa's ears again, and she decided to investigate. She had always loved horses, so she needed to see if it was hurt or restrained. She would always take the time to assist an animal in need.

The whinnying became louder, and just as she was about to register that it sounded a little odd, her phone erupted with static. "Huh? What's wrong with this piece of junk?" she questioned. It still didn't have any reception, but the static blared no matter how many times she touched the screen or adjusted the volume.

Something moved behind her.

Startled at the noise, Lisa whipped her head around, looking in the direction it came from. Whatever was making those noises was coming closer, and the sound of something being pushed along the ground accompanied it. The animal's sounds were becoming clearer, and Lisa realized that she had been right, they didn't sound normal. They were deep, distorted almost. No regular horse made noises like that.

If the fog wasn't an indication that something was amiss, this was. Lisa's mind went into overdrive, telling her to turn around and run as fast as she could, that this wasn't right, that she needed to get away for her own safety, but she didn't.

Before she could move, the unseen animal showed itself, and upon sight of it, her blood ran cold. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out when she opened her mouth.

The thing lurched towards her, its head flopped over to the side, pushing itself forwards using its hind legs. It was horse like in appearance, its head covered completely with a latex mask fused over its face, its front legs tied and uselessly dragging on the ground, its tail made from strips of bloody flesh torn from its own body.

Lisa stood in shock, frozen to the spot. She tried to run, but her legs refused to work, all she could do was stand there in disbelief. Things like that don't exist, she didn't want to believe it. She couldn't believe it. There was no such thing as monsters, she knew that. And yet there it was, shambling towards her.

Finally snapping out of her shock, Lisa darted to the side right as the monster leapt at her, colliding with the brick wall she had just been standing in front of. It moaned and seemed a bit dazed, giving her some time. Frantically, Lisa scanned the area for something to use as a weapon. Her eyes settled on some large cement chunks, so she picked one up. She probably wouldn't be able to throw it far, but it was better than nothing.

With all her might, she hurled the cement block at the monster, hitting it right in its exposed, skinless side. She panicked a little when that didn't slow it, but she wasted no time in equipping a second block. This one connected against the monster's head with a sickening crack, dropping it to the ground. Carefully approaching the downed beast, she picked up the block again and repeatedly sent it smashing down on the back of it's skull.

Blood began to pour from the wound, and Lisa dropped the brick, slowly taking a few steps back. Her heart was pounding, and her hands were shaking. Had she killed it, or was it merely stunned?

She waited a few minutes, trying to calm herself, but at the same time getting ready, just in case it got back up again. It was then that she noticed the lack of static. After she had bashed the demonic horse over the head, it had ceased.

Taking that as a cue that it was safe for the meantime, Lisa crept over to the fallen creature, trembling a bit as she did so. What was that thing? She had never seen or heard of such an animal. Monster was the only word to describe it.

Still a little shaken up, she slowly withdrew her phone and took a picture of it, taking in all the grotesque details. Both its neck and its front legs seemed to be broken, with the front limbs being bound with some sort of black rope. It wore latex boots on its hind legs, and the flesh over its ribcage had been torn off, the bloody strips forming its tail.

Lisa couldn't look at it any longer. This monster was dead, but she knew that if there was one, there was sure to be another nearby. Finding means of defense was top priority.

There was a dumpster near her, and to her luck, a steel pipe was sticking out of it. She pulled it out and examined it. While it wasn't very heavy, it was quite long and might be a bit awkward to swing. Still, it was better than nothing. She gave a few test swings and concluded that while a bit clunky to wield, it could pack a strong punch. Hoping she wouldn't need to use it, she began to calm down a little and walked on.

The alley ended, and she found herself on another industrial avenue. More distorted horse whinnies drifted from up ahead, and when Lisa gazed through the fog, she saw another hellhorse shuffling around the intersection. Deciding not to go that way, she stealthily slunk of in the opposite direction before the horrible thing saw her. This side of the street was seemingly monster free, so she let her guard down a little.

She only advanced a few steps before another sound greeted her, this one a mechanical tinkering. This was immediately followed by the sound of someone cursing to themselves. Lisa's attention was instantly drawn to the noises, following them. Through the fog, she made out the shape of a beat up car with its hood up, and the figure of a young man hunched over the engine.

"A person!" Lisa gasped, running towards him. Startled, he turned to look at her, and for the second time in less than fifteen minutes, Lisa almost fell flat on her ass in surprise.

She knew him.

It was Dallas, her eighteen year old co worker. He was about six feet tall but on the slender side. Very into the Gothic style, he was clad in a calf length black trench coat with some straps and rivets on it. Additionally, he had long black hair falling several inches past his shoulders, wore knee high buckle up boots, a black collar, and had a nose ring. He looked at her quizzically, clearly confused by her presence.

"Hey...I know you! We work together!" he exclaimed, stating the obvious.

"Yeah. What a strange coincidence..." Lisa trailed off, trying to find the right words. "What are you doing here?"

"I pose you the same question, Lisa. Sorry if I'm coming off as a bit cold, but this past hour has been more than a little strange. I was driving through town to meet up with a friend, right? Then my car dies on me, and when I got out to look at it, everything was like this." Dallas explained.

"It's so odd," Lisa continued. "Something very similar happened to me. I took a nap, and when I woke up, all the people where gone and my car was missing! It's like this place has been abandoned for years!"

"I know. Some of the roads just end. This whole place is severely fucked up! Did you see those...things?"

"You mean the horse monsters?"

Dallas nodded. "I never thought I'd say this, but our parents lied to us when they said there was no such thing as monsters. We've seen them, but who's going to believe us?"

Lisa shrugged. "Let's not worry about that now. You said your car died on you, right?"

"Yeah. I can't figure out what's wrong. I'm not exactly a mechanic." Dallas glared at the car engine, looking very perplexed.

"Well, if it's any help, I found this note in the Happy Burger parking lot, saying that my car has been towed and taken to the impound lot. I've still got the keys in my purse, all we need to do is find my car, and get out of here." Lisa offered. She was tempted to say, "as long as the roads haven't all been destroyed." but she wanted to remain somewhat optimistic. "The only problem is, I have no idea where the impound lot is, and it's not like there's anyone else around to ask for directions. I guess it's going to be a bunch of trial and error."

"I'm pretty good with names, if I can remember all the street names, I think we'll be able to maneuver better. I can have a photographic memory with certain things, like numbers and the names of places. For example, my fourth grade locker combination was 1-26-18, and when I was a kid, I'd go visit my aunt sometimes, and for awhile she lived on Cemetery street, which was only about two blocks long. Also-"

Lisa interrupted him and put her hands up. "No offense Dallas, but that's not really helping. Do you have a weapon?"

"I've got this." Dallas picked up the iron pipe that had been sitting at his feet. It was more heavy duty than the one Lisa had, but shorter.

They decided to get a move on, going the opposite direction from which they came. The two of them made some small talk as they walked along.

"Why were you driving through Silent Hill? It's a very touristy place, and I can't imagine you being the tourist type." Dallas commented, motioning to Lisa's urban clothing.

"I was on my way to visit my parents. We don't talk much, but I wanted to pay them a visit. I'd never driven this way before, as continuous road detours forced me to take this route." Lisa explained. "You?"

"I heard there was a creepy old hospital around here somewhere, and my buddy and I were going to explore it. It may be cliche, but I love creepy abandoned places. Or, I did, until about an hour ago. It's amazing how quickly your opinion of something can change."

"Yeah, it really is. I'll tell you, I'm never going to watch another horror movie in my life." Lisa said, shuddering at the mere thought of her DVD collection.

A sudden burst of static interrupted their conversation, making them both tense.  
"I don't see anything." Dallas said as he scanned the area. Something that felt like a bird talon collided with the back of his head, and he got a glimpse of an aerial monster out of the corner of his eye. Before he could turn around, it was out of view.

"Where did it go?" Lisa glanced around in every direction.

"There! To the upper right!" Dallas pointed to it, getting his pipe ready. The birdlike monster swooped down, barreling towards Lisa, and he swung the pipe, feeling it connect with the creature. It was enough to wound it, but not to kill it, as it attempted to fly away. Due to its injury, it flew awkwardly and slowly, allowing Lisa and Dallas to make out a bound beak, chained feet and rotted looking wings before it vanished from sight.

"That thing didn't hit you, did it?" Dallas asked.

"No, but thanks for getting rid of it." Lisa said. "I took out one of those horse monsters earlier, but if we try to fight everything, we're going to get ourselves killed. Let's try to avoid confrontations, okay?"

"Good idea, Lisa." Dallas said. Looking past her, he stood on the corner and leaned forward, looking through the fog.

"What are you doing?" Lisa inquired.

"I think I see a person in that restaurant across the street."

Straining her eyes through the fog, Lisa saw he was right. Through the window, they could see a woman sitting at the bar in the restaurant across the street.

The two of them crossed the street and entered the restaurant, approaching her wordlessly. The woman appeared to be somewhere in her forties, sported a head full of thick, wavy brown hair, and was clad in a blue button up waistcoat and a black pencil skirt. A pearl necklace and a pair of red shoes completed her wardrobe.

The woman didn't notice them, she was staring off into space and savoring a cigarette.

"Miss?" Lisa asked, causing her to jump.

"Jesus, you scared the shit out of me! I thought I was alone here." she exclaimed, seemingly flustered.

"Sorry. We saw you from across the street, and we were wondering if you might know where the car impound lot is. I think it was called Bill and Roy's impound. Do you know what I'm talking about?" Lisa said.

"Sure I do. You're headed in the right direction. The road is out, of course, so you'll have to make a detour through the Ashwood apartment complex. You can't miss it, its right at the end of the road here, and the impound lot is several blocks past it. You'll need a key to open the front door, but lucky for you, I've got one. I don't need it anymore, so you're welcome to have it." she placed an old key on the counter.

"Do you live here?" Dallas asked her.

"No, not anymore. I was born and raised here, but I moved away a long time ago. Good thing too, because Silent Hill is a lonely place." the woman took a long drag from her cigarette. "I'm Victoria, by the way. It's nice to finally get a little company around here."

"Nice to meet you, Victoria." Lisa said. "I'm Lisa, and that's Dallas."

"Nice to meet you too. You guys are an ...interesting couple. Still, I've seen stranger," Victoria mused as she looked them both up and down.

"Actually we're just co workers." Dallas corrected her. "Why don't you come with us? It's not safe here."

For the first time since they entered, Victoria turned to properly face them and sighed. "I appreciate your offer, but I'm going to have to decline. I'd just slow you down. Besides, I know why I'm here. This town called me, and I'm not leaving until I've done what I came here for." she said.

Lisa sat down beside her. "Are you sure? The three of us can get to my car and leave this place. Because he's right you know, there are monsters out there."

"Trust me, I know." Victoria crushed her cigarette and immediately lit up another. "I have experience with them. I've lived amongst them. So take my word for it, I know what I'm doing. I'll be safe." she smiled faintly.

Dallas turned to look at her, captivated by her vibrant cerulean colored outfit. "Victoria, what do you do for a living?"

"You're the curious type, aren't you? I like that. To answer your question, I'm a real estate agent. I have to look nice for my job. I can't give off bad vibes. If I showed a house looking like a slob, I wouldn't get many sales."

"Oh. Okay. I was going to guess something like that."

"I hate to ruin your conversation, but we really need to get going." Lisa said. "Victoria, this is your last chance to come with us."

Victoria shook her head. "No. I'll pass. I'll leave when I'm done here."

"Alright, suit yourself, but I think you're really going to regret that decision. Come on Dallas, let's go." Lisa got up, snatched the key and walked towards the door.

"It was nice meeting you kids. Perhaps we'll encounter each other again in the near future. I hope you find what you're looking for." Victoria said.

"Yeah, you too." Dallas said before following Lisa out the door.

"She seemed a little unhinged, don't you think? I mean, why would she want to stay in a place like this?" Lisa questioned when they stepped back outside.

"I think she's hiding something. Something really big." Dallas said.

They stopped in front of the large apartment building, which loomed less than a foot from the abyss. Lisa opened the front door with the key, put it in her purse for safekeeping, and nudged the door open a crack.

The front lobby was dark, but several windows allowed for dim beams of light to stream in. The door to the superintendent's office was ajar, so Dallas moseyed in to search for keys. The key rack was empty, the desk was cluttered with uninteresting papers, and a search of the drawers provided fruitless. The only thing he found was a health drink of some sort in a brown bottle, which he wasn't even going to think about consuming, as he detested the flavor of energy drinks.

"Find anything?" Lisa questioned from outside the room.

"No. Just a repugnant looking health drink of some sort. I bet it would have all sorts of messed up side effects."

"Let's try and find a way out then. I just looked down the hall, and the back door is completely blocked off."

"What do you mean? Is it locked?"

"Not quite. Come take a look at this."

Stricken by curiosity, Dallas looked down the hall in the direction Lisa was pointing, taking in the odd sight.

Ten metal bars were sticking up from the floor, impaling the ceiling. If that wasn't enough, a maze of barbed wire was tangled around the poles. There was even a long dead rat caught up in it.

"That seems...excessive." Dallas said.

"Tell me about it. There's no way we're going to get through. I guess the only way to go is up." Lisa gestured towards the nearby staircase.

It was a little darker on the stairs, so they carefully ascended to avoid falling. The main second floor hall was dreary, with mold and water damage tainting many areas of the wall. Not surprisingly, the doors were all locked.

Lisa gritted her teeth. "This is getting annoying. Every fucking door is locked! What a surprise. I swear, this place is toying with us! Where the hell are we supposed to go?"

"That door looks open." Dallas pointed out a door way at the end of the hall, room 220.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed open a crack, but it had a chain and a padlock fastened to it, preventing it from opening further. Both the lock and the chain were quite old, and looked to be a bit on the brittle side. A few hard cracks from a lead pipe could likely destroy it.  
Deciding to test that theory, Dallas took a hard swing at the lock, seeing a crack form in the handle as he did so. A second bashing shattered the ancient lock, and the door creaked open. Before advancing, he listened for signs of life inside the room, hearing only silence. It seemed to be monster free, so he slunk in, with Lisa right behind him.

Much to their surprise, the apartment was still furnished. There was a beat up sofa with a television perched right in front of it, and a shelf stocked full of VHS tapes. The kitchen unit was absolutely filthy, as the sink was full of moldy old dishes sitting in murky water, and a suspicious semi solid reddish substance was dripping from the fridge.

The strangest thing about the room was the fact that there was a large circular hole in the ceiling. The edges were smooth, not jagged, and there were no chunks of plaster or wood laying around. It was as if someone had deliberately cut a hole in the ceiling.

"Do you think you could get up there if you climbed up on one of these shelves?" Lisa questioned. "You're taller than I am, you could go up first, and then help me up."

"Okay, sounds good." Dallas examined the shelf nearest to the hole. To his displeasure, the top display shelf was full of ceramic clown figurines, and they were lined up in a V formation, which almost made it look like they were watching him. He knocked them all off on purpose, sending them shattering onto the floor. "Creepy bastards," he mumbled to himself and climbed the shelf, monkey style.  
It appeared to support his weight, so he threw his pipe up first, then gripped the edges and hoisted himself into the room above.

He suddenly heard static and tensed, searching frantically for his pipe. He couldn't see any hostile beings in the room, but that didn't mean they weren't there. What if it was an invisible monster, then what? He'd be screwed.

Before he could ponder anymore bad situations, he heard Lisa call out to him. "Dallas, give me a hand! There are things in here with me!"

Dallas raced to the edge of the hole and looked down, seeing Lisa standing on the shelf directly below. Several small teddy bear like creatures, each one only about a foot tall, were scaling the shelf, squealing as they reached for Lisa with their clawed fingers. Each one seemed to have the rotting flesh of a real bear cub sewn over its own head, with patches of missing fur, and stitches that were coming loose.

Lisa kicked the one nearest to her, sending it flying back, before looking up again. "Hold on a second, I have an idea!" As she took hold of Dallas' hand, she used her feet to forcefully knock the shelf over, preventing the creatures from getting up. One of them cried out as the bulky shelf toppled over on top of it, pinning it to the ground, and the rest scattered to avoid the same fate. The static ceased a few seconds later.

Once she was safe, Lisa couldn't help but smile at her companion. "Thanks for that. Those things came out of nowhere! I really hate to sound like some weak damsel in distress, but I'm not sure what I'd do if you weren't here to aid me."

"Don't say that. You aren't a damsel, Lisa. In fact, I'd say you're rather badass." Dallas smiled back at her.

"Absolutely. Not trying to inflate my own ego too much, but it's true. Bitches don't mess with me," Lisa said, feeling a little foolish almost immediately after saying that last part. It wasn't a lie, as she could take most other women in a fight, but she liked to speak in a more intelligent way. Changing the subject, she made a proposal. "What do you say we sit down for a few minutes?"

Before Dallas could answer, Lisa sat down at the small kitchen table. "This feels good. Come on, sit down for a bit." she mused. "These chairs are surprisingly comfortable. Are you going to come over here or what?"

"In a second." Dallas said, making his way over to the counter, which demanded his immediate attention. There was a wooden knife block on the counter with six slots, but it only housed five knives. The whole thing was coated in dust, but it had been wiped away right over the empty slot. "One of these knives is missing." he said to himself.

"So what? Come join me." Lisa offered.

Instead of listening to her, Dallas opened the fridge, sniffing and inspecting the contents. The most noticeable thing was a jug of orange juice so old that it was swamp green, thick, and chunky. There was some moldy meat and fruit, but there was also a very fresh looking slice of pizza on a paper plate. "Lisa, I think someone has been here recently." he explained.

"Again, so what? Victoria gave us the key to this building, if anyone was here recently it was probably her." Lisa said.

"I suppose." Dallas sat down across from her, not looking entirely convinced. He stretched out, knocking something aside with his foot. Looking beneath the table, he saw that it was an empty cat food dish. The name on it had been blurred out.

Lisa glanced at it and asked him if he had any cats.

"No, not right now. I remember my first cat though. She was a Russian Blue, and I got her when I was ten. Her fur kind of glistened, so I named her Gypsum. She was such a good cat. Intelligent, playful, and well behaved, and more dog like in personality. It sounds kind of weird to say, but even though she was just a cat, she was one of my best friends. It was like she could understand what I was saying."

"What happened to her?" Lisa inquired.

Dallas sighed. "Some asshole killed her. It was probably my older brother, but I'm not sure."

"Seriously? That is messed up."

"Well as I said, my older brother Devon is a complete asshole. He's six years older than me, so he's twenty four now. When I was a kid, he'd beat me up and call me a faggot all the time, and it wasn't typical sibling rivalry either, he really meant it. Of course, I wasn't his only target, he got suspended for fighting in school so many times that he eventually got expelled. I came home from school one day to find my cat dead in the yard with a knife in her back. As I said, I don't have proof it was him, but I don't know who else would have done that. Who could kill a cat? I just don't get it."

"Uh, wow. Sorry. Your brother sounds like a mega douche."

"Yeah. Thankfully he moved out of the house when I was twelve, right after my little sister was born, so I haven't had to deal with him very much since. He would drop by on occasion though, usually to beg my mom for money. He's married to a stripper and has two young kids now, probably beats all three of them. He's in prison at the moment, the idiot got caught trying to rob a jewelry store. I can't say I miss him. As a matter of fact, I take pleasure in the fact he's going to be locked up for a while. If I see him again, I'll break his nose." Dallas smirked. "Do you have any siblings, Lisa?"

Lisa shook her head. "Nope. I'm an only child. I always wanted a brother or sister, but I never got one. Growing up, I couldn't have any pets either because both of my parents are allergic to animal fur, so it got rather lonely at times. I'm going to have tons of animals one day though. Cats, dogs and horses. Regular horses, not those...things I saw earlier. I'm going to live way out in the country so they can have lots of space to run around."

Getting up from the table, she stepped towards the open door. "Well, I guess we had better get a move on. The sooner we can get out of this building, the better."

"I concur." Dallas followed her out the door.

Glancing to the side, they noticed that all of the doors in this stretch of the third floor were open. Not only that, but each door had actually been removed and propped up against the wall near the doorway.

Before either of them could comment on it, a loud, echoing gun shot rang out, causing both of them to jump in surprise and dart into opposite rooms. Another shot, and a chunk of the wall was shattered.

"Holy shit! Someone is shooting at us! I told you there was someone here, Lisa! I told you!" Dallas exclaimed while trying to seek cover in the kitchen area.

Trying to hide in her own room, Lisa covered her ears while crouched under a table. She heard one more bullet tear into the wall outside, then everything fell silent. She was pumped full of adrenaline, but she didn't dare move. There was someone with a gun out there, and she knew better than to bring a steel pipe to a firefight. She had to hide, as whoever was out there would quickly find her in her plain view hiding spot. Fearing for the worst, she quickly scanned the area for a better option and saw nothing but a rather obvious cabinet. It would have to do. Just when she was beginning to get the courage to move, she heard footsteps. At first, she froze, but soon realized that they were fading, not becoming louder. The gunman was leaving.

Once a few more tense minutes of silence passed, Lisa slowly and stealthily crept over to the doorway, glancing down the hall and into the room across from her. All was quiet, and the danger seemed to have passed.

"Lisa? You still there?" Dallas asked from somewhere in the room.

"Yeah. Where are you?" Lisa replied, not moving into the hall quite yet.

He answered her question by reluctantly slinking out of his hiding place. "That was too close, I thought I was going to get shot!"

"Same here. I'm still hyperventilating a bit." Lisa admitted.

Dallas got up and moseyed towards the door. "I don't know who that was, but we need to get out of here before they come back, otherwise-" he was cut off as ten thick metal bars suddenly shot up from the ground in the doorway, connecting to the ceiling and preventing him from leaving. "What the?!"

"You've got to be kidding..." Lisa moaned. She tried to jam her hand in between the bars to get to him, but had zero success. Each bar had less than three inches of space between it and the next one. "Great. This is just GREAT." she seethed and looked at Dallas, who was banging his head against the wall.

"Stop that, I can't have you hurting yourself. Tell you what, I will find some way to get you out of there. I'll come back with a chainsaw or something. If I can't find one, try to climb out the window, and I'll do my best to meet up with you outside. I'll come back, I promise." Lisa said sincerely.

"Sounds good. How about if you can't find anything within half an hour, come back here. Meanwhile, I'll look around here and try to find something helpful. Does that sound like a good plan?" Dallas questioned.

"Yeah. It does. I'll be back before you know it." Lisa gave him a reassuring smile. She ventured down the hall and peeked into the rooms. Unsurprisingly, she found nothing of interest in any of them.

She walked around a bend in the hall and noticed that the rooms in this section did have doors, and one in particular stood out. Unlike the other doors, this one seemed to be made from a higher quality of wood, mahogany perhaps, and had fancy engravings carved into it, giving it a Victorian flair. The knob was made of clear glass, and the keyhole had a gold outline. It was of course locked. Lisa rolled her eyes, talking to herself, "Why did I think for even a second that it would be open?" She suddenly remembered the person who had been shooting at her and realized that they could be in that room, so she backed away.

Not wasting anymore time, she examined the rest of the apartment rooms that opened, not finding any useful items. Thankfully she didn't find any live monsters, but one room did contain a deceased one. Unlike the others she had seen so far, this one was humanoid in appearance, and its corpse was riddled with bullet holes. It's torso and arms seemed normal enough, but its legs were elongated and the knees bent the wrong way. It had a disturbing head as well, as it was completely bald, with an unnaturally wide mouth and fleshy looking fabric sewn over its eyes. Its bottom jaw had been ripped off, revealing a long lizard like tongue. Lisa was 99.9% sure the monster was dead, but she didn't want to get any closer to it if she didn't have to, so she turned and left the room.

At the very end of the hall, she was confronted with a fire escape door. The words 'the path to enlightenment' were spray painted in red lettering across it. Much to Lisa's shock, the door opened with ease, leading outside.

Instead of a fire escape, the door led to an enclosed cage like catwalk, which had makeshift walls and a ceiling formed from barbed wire. Being careful not to touch the edges, Lisa slowly walked down the path, looking around. The fog was still dense, but she could make out buildings and streets below. Some of the odd bird like monsters that she had encountered earlier where fluttering around the path, screeching and trying to get to her. Since the barbed wire was protecting her from them, Lisa took this time to get a closer look at the monsters, seeing that their veiny wings had holes in them, and that their feet were shackled together. They appeared to be blind, as they had a cloth stretched over their eyes and nailed directly into the sockets.

Figuring that they hunted by sound, Lisa tried to ignore them, which was difficult to do, as her static spouting phone kept the demon hawks clustered around her. As long as the wire walls were present, she'd be fine, but she braced herself to run the second she found herself on the ground.

When the catwalk ended, she saw a ladder leading down into a fenced off yard. She descended as quickly as she could, getting scratched once on the way down. Oddly enough, the birds didn't follow her once she reached the yard, instead they squawked and flew away. Lisa paid them no mind, her attention instead focused on the house in front of her.

It looked to be about a hundred years old and was painted turquoise, with a decently sized outdoor porch, complete with a wooden swing. The truly weird part was the fact that this seemingly normal home was completely encircled with a twenty foot tall fence made of razor wire.

This puzzled Lisa. Why would an ordinary residence need such a barrier? She didn't think about it too much, as she'd rather know why she was here. The town had lead her to this house, and there had to be a reason.  
Lisa made her way up the sidewalk, up the steps, and attempted to open the front door. Locked. Thinking that someone might be home, she changed her strategy and knocked firmly on the door three times. She waited for a minute, half expecting someone to answer the door. When no one did, she turned around, preparing to look for an alternate way in. She hadn't even taken two steps when she heard the door slowly creak open, revealing a nice looking front room.

"Somehow, I just knew that was going to happen..." Lisa quietly said to herself. Gripping her steel pipe tightly, she took a deep breath and stepped inside.


	2. Ch2 Angelo

Nudging the front door open, Lisa cautiously looked around. All was quiet and there didn't seem to be anyone about, but she wasn't sure if she should feel relaxed or more anxious.

Like the apartments, the house was still fully furnished, further supporting her theory that all the town's residents had all suddenly left.

Lisa slowly walked through the front room, taking in her surroundings. Nothing was out of the ordinary, it appeared to be a completely normal sitting room, with two black leather chairs, a rather ugly pink sofa and a very seventies triple swag luminaire. The dining room proved to be equally boring.

Though she saw nothing important, there had to be something here for her to see or find, as the catwalk lead to this specific house. She was still questioning why she was here when she entered the kitchen and saw a note taped to the refrigerator.

_Adam-_

_I have to work a double shift at the hospital today, I won't be back until really late. Could you do me a favor and pick up that electric train set for Trenton? Thanks sweetie!_

_love, Susan_

Lisa disregarded the note, opting instead to investigate the cabinets, finding nothing special. She did notice another 'health drink' on the island next to the stove and picked it up.

"Why do I keep finding these? Furthermore, who would drink something like this?" she asked herself.

She searched the rest of the first floor, not finding any clues or hints whatsoever. The door to the basement was in the kitchen and was unlocked, yet she couldn't get it open no matter how much she tugged at it. It was as if somebody was holding it shut from the other side. Eventually she gave up trying.

"Alright, next stop, second floor." she said without thinking. It occurred to her that she was speaking just to hear herself talk. Just to hear something, as the silence was beginning to unnerve her.

She crept up the stairs, causing them to creak with each step. As she went up, she was overwhelmed by a repugnant smell drifting from above. It was rank and rotten, but with a tinge of sweetness to it. Lisa swallowed hard as she pinpointed what it was: decomposing flesh. It was an odor she was familiar with, as an entire family of mice had died in her bedroom walls several years ago. It was coming from the door to her immediate left.

She stood in front of the door for several minutes. On one hand, she didn't want to open it, but at the same time, she was overcome with morbid curiosity. She had never seen a dead body before, and while she didn't know if she truly wanted to, this might be her only chance. She decided to take a brief glance.

Turning the doorknob, she opened the bedroom door just a crack, barely enough to see. Sure enough, there was a body on the bed. It was swathed in filthy white sheets, wrapped tightly, with only the shins and feet exposed. Judging by its feminine frame, she concluded that it was female. She stared at the corpse's discolored feet for exactly two seconds before quickly shutting the door.

"Oh shit. I think I just found Susan. Get out of here, Lisa. Get out." she told herself. For all she knew, the killer could still be lurking about, stalking the area. After all, she knew the old saying, that a killer will always return to the scene of the crime to relive the memory.

She was about to turn and leave when she noticed the attic door was open, casting a soft, warm light into the hall and beckoning her to go up. Not bothering to check the bathroom or the other two bedrooms, she made her way up, and the stairs were so steep that she had to climb them on all fours.

Once she reached the top, she suddenly sneezed due to all the dust in the air. There were piles of ancient grey insulation in all four corners, and it looked to be the variety that causes extreme itchiness when touched, so she steered clear of it. All kinds of items where strewn about, from empty suitcases to long abandoned stuffed animals, each covered in year's worth of dust. In the middle of it all was an electric train set, with many extra cars laying about. Unlike most of the other items up here, the train set looked new.

Remembering the note she saw downstairs, Lisa bent down to examine it. The track was in a large oblong shape, and there was a control pad near her feet. A note was attached to it, this one written in blue crayon and scripted by a child.

Reading out loud, Lisa recited, "Mr. Jones needs to make a delivery to Mr. Tompson. He must take eight new cars, some Nitrogen, two herds of horses, an order of iron pipes, a shipment of couches and a place to sleep with the B-engine."

Setting the note down, Lisa examined the control pad. She fiddled with the power switch and cranked it on. Nothing happened. Even when she increased the power, the train didn't move. It wasn't until a few seconds later that she realized the problem, there was a piece of track missing. Since there weren't any spare pieces laying about in the open, she turned her gaze towards a large plastic container presumably housing more train parts. To her surprise, it was empty. She glared at the gap in the track and sighed. Of course there was a missing piece. Nothing could ever be simple.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

"Gah!" Lisa shouted and leapt up, nearly jumping out of her skin at the sudden voice. Looking around frantically, she gripped her pipe, ready to bash in the head of the unseen intruder.

"Who's there? Show yourself! You have until the count of three to show yourself!" she threatened, hoping she sounded more intimidating than she felt.

"One...two..." Lisa fidgeted, getting ready to attack the human silhouette standing motionlessly in the corner. "Three!" she sprang forward, swung her pipe as hard as she could and felt it firmly connect to her target. It fell to the floor harmlessly, revealing itself to be a mannequin.

Immediately feeling foolish, she ceased her attack on the object. She was alone in the room, but she heard a man's voice, she knew it. She wasn't crazy, and there's no way she was just imagining it. Someone had spoken to her, and she didn't want to stick around long enough to find out who. For all she knew, it could be the same guy who had been shooting at her and Dallas earlier.

Trying not to think about it, she concocted a game plan in her head: Solve this stupid puzzle and get the fuck out. In order to do that, she'd need to find the missing track, and assuming it wasn't out in plain sight, she figured she'd search the creepiest place in the house first.

She walked back down to the kitchen and felt uneasy when she saw that the basement door was now ajar. It gave off a very foreboding feel, the same feeling she had briefly felt back at the Happy Burger. Only this time, it was more unsettling. There was something awful down there, she could sense it.

Gathering her courage, she flipped on the basement light switch, absolutely relieved that the lights worked. For now, at least. The way things have been going so far, she wouldn't be shocked if she was suddenly plunged into darkness at the worst possible moment.

Once she set foot on the concrete floor, she was bombarded with the stench of rotting flesh for a second time. "Great..." she slowly inched forward, passed the laundry area, into the storage area. There were three massive shelves one one side of the room, and all three of them were fully stocked with antiques of all sorts. On the other side, there was a yellow wooden door with a simple latch keeping it shut.

The closer she got to it, the more pungent the putrid aroma got. Unlatching the door, Lisa peered in nervously, ready to flee at the first sign of trouble. There was another wrapped up corpse laying against the wall, this one was larger and appeared to be a male. In its lap sat one train track segment, the same curved piece she needed.

Lisa fidgeted again, trying to calm her nerves. Her mind was racing. _What happened to the kid? If both of the parents were murdered, did someone kill the kid too? Or maybe..._

"You can do this Lisa. He's dead. He's not going to care if you take the track." She tried to reassure herself, but her confidence was low. Awash with nervousness, she slowly reached forward, speaking to prevent herself from panicking. "You must be Adam...I'm Lisa. Pleased to meet you. I need this track piece, surely you won't mind if I take it?" her voice slightly quavered as she extended her right hand.

Closer...

Closer...

Got it. Lisa snatched the track and withdrew her hand, immediately stepping back and closing the door. She didn't waste another second, she sprinted up the stairs and raced back to the attic. She had the track, now she could solve this puzzle and leave.

She placed the track, completing the power circuit, then looked at the child's note again. It didn't make very much sense at first, but after analyzing it a bit more, she concluded that she'd need to switch some of the cars around. Specifically, she'd need to place the BNSF engine on the track, and hook up four cargo carriers, a tanker, two animal carriers, a flatbed car, a boxcar, and a caboose, in that order.

Once she had the correct cars hooked up, she turned the dial on the control pad, which started the train. It chugged along the track, with the engine releasing real smoke every so often. After it completed three circuits, the whistle blew and something dropped from the rafters, landing on the floor with a clink.

It was a key, and a very fancy one at that. Etched into it was the number 308, the same number as the elegant looking door in the apartment building. Lisa swiped the key and swiftly exited the house, not caring to look behind her as she went.

The demon birds were still clustered around the outer walls of the catwalk, but Lisa paid them no mind, instead proceeding directly back to the apartment complex. She shut the fire escape door behind her, actually somewhat relieved to be back in the moldy old apartment. Something about that home chilled her. She hadn't entered the child's room, which she was thankful for. Who knows what sort of grotesque sight would have awaited her in there.

As she took several steps forward, she saw a scrap of notebook paper slide out from beneath the door of room 312. She knelt down and gazed at it. It was hastily written and read:

_'__I can't take the pain anymore, and I beg you to kill me. I'll give you the bullet.'_

As soon as she finished reading, one bullet rolled out from underneath the door, coming to a stop at her foot. She picked it up, cocked her head and stared at the door.

"What good is a bullet without a gun?" she asked, hoping the unseen person would answer.

The front panel of a nearby pipe box suddenly fell off, clattering to the floor and snagging her attention. Two handguns were stashed inside.

"Yes! Now that is what I'm talking about!" she bounded over to the box, picking up one of the guns. It was cool to the touch and relatively light, stocked with one full magazine. She had never fired a gun before, but with the monsters prowling about, she knew it would come in handy. Hoping she wouldn't need to use it much, she picked up the other gun and walked back to the room that Dallas was imprisoned in.

Putting her face against the bars, she inspected the room, looking for signs of her co worker. Though he was out of her sight, she could hear him blathering to himself.

"Dallas? Are you still there?" she called out.

The frustrated muttering ceased immediately and Dallas came sprinting from the left, clearly exited to see her. "Lisa! You came back! I thought you forgot about me."

"What? No! I didn't forget about you, I just had to make a pitstop." Lisa explained. "There's a really fancy locked room down the hall, and the fire escape path led to this creepy old house, where I had to solve some puzzle in the attic to get a key to room 308. That's not all I found though. Check this out." she showed him the pistols, pushing one through the bars. "One for you, one for me."

Dallas took the gun, carefully examined it, and traced his finger over the grip on the stock. "I've never fired a real gun before. I accidentally shot my friend in the leg with a BB gun once, but that doesn't really count." he admitted.

"Neither have I. At least now we'll be better protected. We're packing heat, how does that make you feel?" Lisa asked.

"Like a walking stereotype." Dallas answered. He spoke in a sarcastic voice, but wore a hint of a smile.

Despite her situation, Lisa had to laugh. It momentarily made her forget about their predicament, and she was tempted to blow off opening apartment 308 in favor of sitting here, talking to her companion. Before today, she had only spoken to him a few times at work, but she found that she really enjoyed his presence over the past two hours. Not only that, but she suspected that he was really starting to take a shining to her as well. He interrupted her thoughts by addressing her, effectively snapping her out of her daze.

"There's a window in the living room here, and a fire escape about fifteen feet from the window sill. It's too far to jump, but I haven't found any other way to get out of here."

"Hmm. Let me think a minute." Lisa mused. "I've got this odd feeling that there might be someone who can help us out in room 308. After all, someone wanted me to go through the trouble of getting that key. I just...I really hope I'm right about this."

"Yeah, me too. I'm going crazy in here. It feels like I've been in here for about a thousand hours, but in reality, it's probably been around half an hour at most. At least I'm safe. Probably, anyway."

"There's only one way to find out. I'm going to pay our friend in 308 a visit. Hopefully it will all go smoothly, then maybe we can find a way to bust you out of here. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" Lisa prepared to leave.

"Lisa?" Dallas asked, leaning against the bars.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful, okay? I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Lisa grinned again. "I will. Don't worry about me."

With that, she spun around and strode down the corridor, key in hand. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was a little unraveled about meeting the mystery person. It was most likely an ally, but what if it wasn't? What if it was someone who wanted to harm or even kill her?

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, Lisa slid the key into the lock and slowly turned the knob, inching the door open. Unlike all the others, this apartment was in excellent shape, and whoever was responsible for the interior decorating had high class taste. The furniture and vanities were high quality and appeared to be quite old, scenic paintings of lakeside architecture adorned the walls, and there were several shelves crammed with all sorts of books, mostly non fiction. Completing it all was a fully stocked mini bar in the corner.

The sound of liquid being poured into a glass met her ears, which lead her over to the parlor area. Lounging on the sofa was a well dressed, handsome African American man who appeared to be in his mid thirties, enjoying a glass of brandy. He was clad in a white long sleeve shirt, a black vest, black slacks and had a bowler hat tilted over one eye. Though he was dressed in classy yet old fashioned attire, his outfit had a bit of an urban flair, as he was also wearing diamond stud earrings and fingerless leather gloves.

He looked up, pleasantly surprised to see her. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd come by. I've been expecting you. My name is Angelo. Come sit down, so we can talk."

Upon hearing his voice, Lisa's blood turned to ice, and it must have shown on her face, as he quickly changed the subject.

"Are you alright? You look like you've just witnessed a murder."

"You're...you're the guy from the attic!" Lisa accused.

Angelo raised a brow, evidently puzzled. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. I've been in here for quite a while. You must have been hearing things, miss."

"My name is Lisa. And I wasn't imaging it, when I was in that house, I heard your voice crystal clear. And the bodies...did _you_ kill those people?" Lisa asked, not sure if she wanted the answer.

"Now what makes you think that? You know, it's fairly rude of you to barge in here and accuse me of a multiple homicide, don't you think?"

"If you didn't kill them, then who did?"

"How should I know? As I said, I was here. Care for a glass of brandy?" Angelo offered. He got up from the sofa, filled a second glass halfway and handed it to her.

Lisa declined and set the glass on a nearby table. No way in hell was she going to drink anything this guy offered her. She was smarter than that.

"No thank you. I don't drink."

"Are you sure? I think you do, Lisa. Perhaps some bourbon would be more your flavor."

"No, really. I'm good."

"If you insist." Angelo smirked at her.

Lisa shifted uncomfortably. This man made her uneasy, like he knew something and didn't want to tell her, and despite his calm demeanor, she couldn't decipher if he was hostile or not. She looked him over, and her uneasiness increased by tenfold when she spotted a revolver sitting beside him. Immediately, it all fell into place, this was definitely the same man who had fired off those shots earlier. Without thinking, she gripped her own gun and pointed it at him, catching him off guard.

"Keep your hands where I can see them, and don't try anything stupid. I don't want to shoot you, but I will if I have to." she said coldly.

"Take it easy, Lisa. Don't do anything you'll regret." Angelo spoke calmly, like he was fully accustomed to having guns pointed at his head.

"I think you had better start talking."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Why were you shooting at us earlier? I'd answer that question very carefully if I was you."

"I meant no harm, I just needed to separate you two, that's all, I swear. There are orders to abide by, and I must follow them. I'm not a bad guy, as a matter of fact, I think you'll find me very useful, weather you realize it or not. Now, I'd love to continue this conversation, but there are places I need to be." Swallowing the rest of the brandy and picking up his gun, Angelo stood up and ambled over to the door. "You can stop pointing that gun at me now. Shooting me would be a big mistake."

"Perhaps, but I think you can see where I'm coming from. How can I trust you not to blow my head off with that hand cannon of yours?" Lisa asked.

"Don't worry. The only heads I'll be blowing off are demon heads. Speaking of which, there's another clip of handgun ammo in my desk, feel free to take it if you'd like." Angelo offered politely.

"Alright." Lisa lowered her gun. She still didn't trust him at all, but figured it would be best if she kept that thought to herself.

"I've got to run, perhaps we'll cross paths in the near future." he moved towards the doorway and put his hand on the knob. "Oh, and Lisa?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll see to it that Dallas gets out of confinement." he walked out and shut the door behind him before Lisa had the chance to speak.

"Hey, wait! How do you know his name?" she called, following after him. "Wait up, answer my question!"

She looked up and down the hall, but he was already gone. "Son of a bitch. Where did he go?" Defeated, she slunk back into the apartment, shutting the door behind her. Upon searching the desk, she learned that Angelo had been telling the truth, there was a clip in the center drawer. As she dropped it into her purse, she was startled by the sudden blaring of an air horn. It was relatively quiet at first, but steadily got louder as the seconds went by.

"What the hell?" she ran over to the window to investigate and saw that it was rapidly getting darker outside. "Oh crap. This isn't good. Time to go."

Lisa stealthily walked towards the exit, only to be taken aback by a strange dark liquid dripping out of the keyhole. At first glance she mistook it for blood, but this liquid was thicker and black. It began to snake in from below the doorframe, and Lisa instinctively backed away from it. The stuff began to ooze from receptacles, trickling down the cords, it dripped from light fixtures, and shot up in spurts from the drain in the kitchen sink. Out of everything she had seen so far, this ranked the highest on the can't possibly be real meter, and she had a feeling that it might dissolve her flesh or engulf her if she touched it.

Thoroughly terrified, Lisa jumped up on the sofa to avoid the black ooze that slowly crept towards her.

"What the fuck?! What IS this?" she tried to recline as far back to the wall as she could, hoping that it would open up and take her someplace safe.

She felt something wet and slightly warm touch her hand, and she jerked away upon realizing the stuff was now streaming down the wall. She had some on her right hand, and was only slightly relieved that it didn't burn her.

The air horn was still wailing, now louder than ever, and Lisa barely heard the rumbles and cracks coming from the north wall. The whole room seemed to shake, sending her into adrenaline overload mode. She flew over to the door, only to find it locked. Not letting that stop her, she began pounding on its surface, getting her hands coated with the strange black substance in the process.

"Let me out! Angelo, open the door! NOW! Get me out of here!" Lisa shouted until her throat stung, and banged on the door to no avail.

Her tirade was interrupted as an explosion rocked the room, showering chunks of plaster and wood all over the place and sending her toppling onto the floor. Looking behind her in a panic, she saw that a section of the wall had blown up, revealing another hallway behind it.

Once the dust settled, everything suddenly went deathly quiet. It was so quiet that she could almost hear her erratic heartbeat. For several minutes, she sat on the floor, unmoving. Finally she picked herself up, unsteadily walked over to the ruined wall and looked around with extreme caution. Equipping her gun again, she stepped into the new area and was afraid yet awestruck. This couldn't possibly be a section of the apartment, it was almost as if she had traveled to a completely different place. Or rather, as if the world had shifted around and brought a place to her.

The hall was a drab white, with water damage covering most of the peeling wall paper. Pipes ran across the ceiling, dripping stagnant water, which collected on the floor in murky pools. The floor itself was noticeably the most striking feature, as it was made of filthy glass. Molded inside it was a collection of bones, some from humans and some from animals, each one with a numbered tag tied to it.

The sound of wood snapping and bending became apparent, as the walls themselves undulated in waves like they were made of liquid. At the peak of a wave, cracks formed, and the wood splintered, causing hundreds of worms, flies, beetles and maggots to come pouring out.

Lisa leapt back just in time to avoid getting swarmed. The hall was quickly filling with hideous, oversized insects, so she ran down the corridor to get away from them. There was only one way to go, so she ran forward, not noticing the sudden static coming from her phone.

A horse demon intercepted her from around the bend, smashing its large head into her and knocking her flat on her back. Her gun went flying, but due to her quick reflexes, she jumped up and dodged the attack just as the monster brought its front hooves down, the fleshy fez on its face mask grazing her arm in the process. She scrambled away from it, retrieved her gun, and tried to line up a head shot. She only had about a second to make her move, so she fired somewhat blindly. Thankfully, the bullet pierced one of its hind legs, crippling it. The monster moaned in agony and fell down in pain, giving her time to run.

Lisa tore down the hall, barely noticing as the white walls gave away to blood tinged chain link intersected with barbed wire with blackness outside and below it. There were fans coming up from the darkness, all of them with the blades bent in every direction. Yet somehow, they still turned. Behind the distorted industrial fans, she could make out the forms of some kinds of objects tied up with ropes and suspended over the abyss. They looked like large, heavy bags and some of them were moving a bit.

Lisa guessed that they were body bags containing not quite dead victims, but she wasn't going to stick around to investigate. Her mind was in overdrive, she didn't even know what to think at the moment, all she knew was that she had to get out of this place.

She ran until the hall abruptly ended, presenting her with a ladder. It was basked in a vibrant red light, almost like a darkroom, but there was no clear light source.

She began to climb, taking note of the bizarre interior decor that adorned the walls. Every few feet, there were loops of razor wire, each one with a crucified toy in the center. Dolls, stuffed animals, action figures and the like, all with spikes driven through their hands and feet.

There was a little alcove to her left, so she jumped into it. Being about six feet by six feet, there was ample room for her to stand. One of the walls was entirely glass, so she peered in, captivated by what she saw in front of her. A very normal looking, well lit American style kitchen lay beyond it, and there was a distressed looking teenage boy, seventeen or eighteen at most, standing in front of the stove island. He was of average build, had short blonde hair and was wearing a flat brimmed hat cocked slightly to the side. Lisa banged on the glass to get his attention. He looked at her for a split second, then looked forward again.

Just as Lisa was about to question why, _they_ came into her view. Monsters, three of them, had this kid cornered, and she audibly screamed when she got a good look at them. From the neck down, they looked like regular men, clad in black suits with red ties, but their heads were grotesque, misshapen and tumor like. They didn't have any recognizable facial features, and their heads were split in half right down the middle, revealing a vertical mouth lined with sharp teeth. Worst of all, each one wielded a gun.

Lisa heard low mumbling sounds emanating from the room and realized they were coming from the monsters. Were they capable of speech? They seemed to be speaking to the kid or communicating with him in some way, as he was clearly resisting their words.

He shook his head and said something to them, but Lisa couldn't hear what. It obviously upset them, as one of the monsters raised its gun, aiming at him. The kid tried to bolt, but a shot rang out and he fell to his knees in agony, having taken a bullet to the leg. The second monster fired, the bullet tearing through his torso and bloodying the surrounding area. The boy was on the ground now, crawling towards the glass. His eyes met with Lisa's, and her own eyes widened as the final monster stood over him. She knew what was about to happen, but there was nothing she could do. Knowing its victim wouldn't get very far, the monster took its time lining up the shot. Finally, it fired an execution style kill shot into the boy's head, sending blood and brain fragments splattering onto the glass.

Lisa gasped in horror and clamped her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. Unfortunately, she was detected anyway. One of the horrible monstrosities approached the glass, causing her to almost choke on her breath.

Before she could aim her gun, it twitched, suddenly pounding its fist on the glass and causing Lisa to flinch.

It saw her.

Even though it had no eyes, Lisa knew it was aware of her presence. A few seconds passed before it moved again. Instead of attacking, it made a motion to the other two. The three beings turned on their heels and walked away, disappearing into the shadows.

Lisa sighed in relief, overjoyed that the things had departed. Deeming it safe to move, she resumed climbing the ladder, taking one last look into the room out of morbid curiosity. The deceased teenager was laying face down in several growing pools of his own blood. Since this marked the third corpse she had seen today, it wasn't quite as shocking, but it still disgusted her. She had never seen the kid before, but nobody deserved to get blown away in such a brutal fashion.

She reached the top of the ladder, finding herself standing in front of a set of elaborate double doors. Surprisingly, they opened with ease, and she looked around in wonder at the cavernous new room.

It was a church, with very extravagant looking decorations and structures. A bright red carpet led down the isle, elegant chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and from behind the ancient looking organ, magnificent stained glass windows extending to the ceiling bathed the whole room in a beautiful multicolored glow. At least a dozen stone spires added to the epic feel of the room. Strangely, the rows of pews were all occupied by white retail mannequins dressed in fancy clothes, and there was a congregation of them on the church stage as well.

As she looked around, a nostalgic feeling swept over her. This church felt very familiar, almost like she had been here before, but she knew she hadn't. Her parents had dragged her to church every Sunday until she was fourteen, but never to one this extravagant. The summer before she started ninth grade, her parents had finally accepted that she would never be a believer and had stopped forcing her to accompany them to services.

As she neared the podium, the display on the stage became clear, causing her to grimace in disapproval. A ring of creepily pleased looking mannequins were seated around a makeshift gallows where another mannequin was hanging. A nearby sign identified the scene, _'A sacrifice to our God.'_

There was an open scripture laid out on the podium, beckoning Lisa to read from it.

"Though anyone can be used as a sacrifice, the ritual is more effective if the sacrifice is a non believer..." she read out loud to herself. "Well, okay then."

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two empty chairs in the circle surrounding the gallows. Both chairs had a small card placed on the seat, reading 'These seats are reserved for Gavin and Jennifer S.'

Lisa froze then blinked several times, refusing to believe what she just read. Surely it was a typo of some kind. Those were her parent's names. They were religious, but no way were they into this extreme level of zealotry. They would never stand for the hangings of innocent people in the name of sacrifice. Surely, this had to be another example of someone playing cruel tricks on her. Lisa knew this, yet at the very back of her mind, she heard this nagging voice that they might have lead secret life, one they didn't want their daughter to discover.

Lisa shook her head and pointed an accusatory finger at the display. "It's not true. That's a lie! My parents aren't cultists. They would never do that, not in a million years!" she shouted to the emptiness, directing her anger towards the town itself.

"It's NOT true!" she kicked one of the mannequins over, whacked the head off another, tore the scriptures to shreds and tossed the pieces into the air.

Satisfied with the destruction, she followed the red carpet to the right. It lead out to another hallway. Perched beside the doorframe was a collection bowl, with a handwritten sign asking for donations. Lisa scowled at it.

"Yeah, I don't think so," she flipped it over and dozens of odd looking silver coins spilled onto the floor. They all had a strange symbol on them, comprised of a circle with a triangle inside of it. There were several small symbols between the two shapes.

Lisa ignored them and ventured forward. Upon exiting the church, she found herself in yet another nightmare fueled hallway. Streams of gravity defying blood flowed up the walls, where it collected on the ceiling and completely covered it. The floors here were glass as well, showcasing lengths of intestines underneath which ran from one end of the hall to the other. The appeared to have some sort of fluid coursing through them.

An empty, safe looking room came into her view. She entered, sat down in the corner and finally allowed everything to sink in. She tried to make sense of what was happening, but to no avail. There simply was no logical explanation for any of this and no possible way to explain it to a rescuer without making her sound like a raving lunatic.

Her day had began normal enough, but it all went to hell so suddenly. She was trapped in a ghost town crawling with monsters, met some suspicious individuals, killed a creature thought to be fictional, witnessed someone getting murdered, and was now a little suspicious of her parent's activities. To top it all off, she was stuck in an alternate reality where time probably didn't even exist with no way out. Not only that, but she had absolutely no idea if Dallas was okay or not.

Though it had only been twenty minutes since she last saw him, it felt like forever due to the other world's influence. She wasn't the type to admit to sappy feelings, but she was beginning to miss him and hoped that he wasn't in danger. After all, she didn't trust Angelo at all, and if he was alone with Dallas, she figured nothing but bad things would arise.

She thought about what she had last said to him, that there was no need to worry about her, and promising him that nothing bad was going to happen. It was nothing but a false promise, the most recent addition to her long list of failures.

She had enough. What ever she had done to get here, she wanted out. Truthfully, she wanted to curl into a ball and cry for her mother, but she refrained from doing so. She hugged herself and let her head fall back against the wall in defeat.

For the first time in her life, she felt truly helpless.


End file.
